서론
無標題
简体中文
英文原文
It does not appear, nor is it material to enquire, upon what occasion David penned this psalm; but in it, I. He looks back with thankfulness upon the experiences he had had of God's goodness to him, Ps 138:1-3. II. He looks forward with comfort, in hopes, 1. That others would go on to praise God like him, Ps 138:4,5. 2. That God would go on to do good to him, Ps 138:6-8. In singing this psalm we must in like manner devote ourselves to God's praise and glory and repose ourselves in his power and goodness.
1-5
Grateful Praise
简体中文
感恩的赞美
大卫的诗篇。
¹ 我要一心称谢你，在诸神面前歌颂你。
² 我要向你的圣殿下拜，为你的慈爱和诚实称赞你的名；因你使你的话显为大，过于你所应许的。
³ 我呼求的日子，你就应允我，鼓励我，使我心里有能力。
⁴ 耶和华啊，地上的君王都要称谢你，因他们听见了你口中的言语。
⁵ 他们要歌颂耶和华的作为，因耶和华的荣耀极大。
一、他怎样赞美神（参诗111:1）。1. 他要诚心热烈地赞美——「以我的心，以我全心全魂」，以里面的，并以「一切」里面的，心意的正直与情操的火热，内心的印象与外表的宣告相称。2. 坦然勇敢地赞美：「我要在诸神面前歌颂你」，在君王、审判官、伟人面前——或是来访的异邦之君，或是本国侍立的臣宰——即便在他们面前，他不仅在心里赞美神（这在任何人群中都可借敬虔的心愿而行），有机会时还要歌唱赞美。请注意，赞美神是最大的伟人也不必引以为耻的工作；这是天使的工作、天上的工作。「在天使面前」（有人如此解读），即在宗教聚集中——在那里有天使特别的同在（林前11:10）。3. 照神所定的方式赞美：「我要向你的圣殿下拜。」惟独祭司进入圣殿；百姓最多不过向其方向敬拜，他们在远处也可如此行。基督是我们的圣殿，我们当以信心的眼目仰望他——他作我们与神之间的中保，在我们一切赞美他之时。天堂是神神圣的殿，我们在一切向神所发的呼求中当举目仰望他。「我们在天上的父」。
二、他为何赞美神。1. 为他安慰的源头——「为你的慈爱和为你的诚实」，为你的良善和为你的应许，藏在你里面的怜悯和借你显明的怜悯，神在自己里面是恩慈的神，并应许对一切信靠他的人如此。「因你使你的话（你的应许，就是真理）显为大，过于你所应许的（或：过于你一切的名）。」神在创造和护理中多方启示自己，但最清楚的是借他的话。他口中的判断比他手中的作为更显为大，更大的事借话语成就。恩典的奇事超过自然的奇事；借启示所认识的神，远比借理性所认识的神为大。在大卫所经历的事上，神对他话语的信实比他任何别的属性都更显辉煌，更归荣耀于他。有善解经家将此解为基督——那道——和他的福音，它们比神从前向列祖所启示的一切更被尊大。那使律法为大、使它得尊荣的，更使福音为大。2. 为从那源头所流的溪流——在其中他自己已尝过主是美善（诗138:3）。他曾落在苦难中，他存感恩之心记念：〔1〕那时他与神甜美的相交。他呼求，他祷告，并恳切祷告，神应允了他，使他知道他的祷告已蒙悦纳，并将在适当时候得着恩典的答复。神与他圣徒之间的来往，借他的应许和他们的祷告而进行。〔2〕那时他从神所得甜美的供应：「你鼓励我，使我心里有能力。」这就是对他祷告的答复，因为神所赐的胜过善言（诗20:6）。请注意，[1] 这是迅速的答复：「我呼求的日子。」与天借祷告交易的人，因速得的回报而致富。「他们尚未求告，我就应允；正说话的时候，我就垂听」（赛65:24）。[2] 这是属灵的答复。神使他的心得能力，这在苦难之日是对信心之祷告实在而宝贵的答复。若神在我们心中赐我们力量，以承担重担、抵挡试探、尽受苦之境的本分；若他坚固我们以信心紧抓他、保守心中的平安、忍耐等候结局，我们就当承认他已应允了我们，我们当存感恩。
三、他盼望自己的赞美神对别人有何影响（诗138:4、5）。大卫自己既是君王，就盼望君王们也因他的经历和榜样受感，而归信宗教；君王若归信，他们的全国必因此更美。这事，1. 可指大卫邻邦的君王，如希兰等。「他们都要称谢你。」他们来访大卫时，以及他死后他们来求见所罗门（如「地上的诸王」明文所记，代下9:23）时，他们都乐意同拜以色列的神。2. 也可看得更远，指向外邦人的蒙召和万民借基督福音作主的门徒——论到他：「诸王都要叩拜他」（诗72:11）。在此预言：〔1〕「地上的君王要听见神的话语。」凡就近大卫的，都必从他听见（诗119:46）。在末后的日子，福音的传信者必被差遣到普天下。〔2〕那时他们必赞美神——凡听见他的话并以其中的亮光和爱接受的人，都有理由如此行（徒13:48）。〔3〕他们要「歌颂耶和华的作为」，歌颂他对待他们的护理和恩典的作为；他们要在神里面喜乐，将荣耀归给他，无论他在他们尽本分顺服的道路上乐意怎样待他们。请注意，那行在耶和华道路中的人，有理由在其中歌唱，并以极大的喜乐前行，因为那些是「使人有智慧」的道；我们也当在其中喜乐；我们若如此行，「耶和华的荣耀极大」。君王若行在他的道中，凡行在其中的人若在其中歌唱，因而向普天下宣告他是一位好主人，他的工作本身就是酬报——这都大大归荣耀于神。
英文原文
Grateful Praise
A psalm of David.
¹ I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.
² I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
³ In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.
⁴ All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hear the words of thy mouth.
⁵ Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.
I. How he would praise God, compare Ps 111:1. 1. He will praise him with sincerity and zeal—"With my heart, with my whole heart, with that which is within me and with all that is within me, with uprightness of intention and fervency of affection, inward impressions agreeing with outward expressions." 2. With freedom and boldness: Before the gods will I sing praise unto thee, before the princes, and judges, and great men, either those of other nations that visited him or those of his own nation that attended on him, even in their presence. He will not only praise God with his heart, which we may do by pious ejaculations in any company, but will sing praise if there be occasion. Note, Praising God is work which the greatest of men need not be ashamed of; it is the work of angels, the work of heaven. Before the angels (so some understand it), that is, in religious assemblies, where there is a special presence of angels, 1Co 11:10. 3. In the way that God had appointed: I will worship towards thy holy temple. The priests alone went into the temple; the people, at the nearest, did but worship towards it, and that they might do at a distance. Christ is our temple, and towards him we must look with an eye of faith, as Mediator between us and God, in all our praises of him. Heaven is God's holy temple, and thitherward we must lift up our eyes in all our addresses to God. Our Father in heaven.
II. What he would praise God for. 1. For the fountain of his comforts—for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth, for thy goodness and for thy promise, mercy hidden in thee and mercy revealed by thee, that God is a gracious God in himself and has engaged to be so to all those that trust in him. For thou hast magnified thy word (thy promise, which is truth) above all thy name. God has made himself known to us in many ways in creation and providence, but most clearly by his word. The judgments of his mouth are magnified even above those of his hand, and greater things are done by them. The wonders of grace exceed the wonders of nature; and what is discovered of God by revelation is much greater than what is discovered by reason. In what God had done for David his faithfulness to his work appeared more illustriously, and redounded more to his glory, than any other of his attributes. Some good interpreters understand it of Christ, the essential Word, and of his gospel, which are magnified above all the discoveries God had before made of himself to the fathers. He that magnified the law, and made that honourable, magnifies the gospel much more. 2. For the streams flowing from that fountain, in which he himself had tasted that the Lord is gracious, Ps 138:3. He had been in affliction, and he remembers, with thankfulness, (1.) The sweet communion he then had with God. He cried, he prayed, and prayed earnestly, and God answered him, gave him to understand that his prayer was accepted and should have a gracious return in due time. The intercourse between God and his saints is carried on by his promises and their prayers. (2.) The sweet communications he then had from God: Thou strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. This was the answer to his prayer, for God gives more than good words, Ps 20:6. Observe, [1.] It was a speedy answer: In the day when I cried. Note, Those that trade with heaven by prayer grow rich by quick returns. While we are yet speaking God hears, Isa 65:24. [2.] It was a spiritual answer. God gave him strength in his soul, and that is a real and valuable answer to the prayer of faith in the day of affliction. If God give us strength in our souls to bear the burdens, resist the temptations, and do the duties of an afflicted state, if he strengthen us to keep hold of himself by faith, to maintain the peace of our own minds and to wait with patience for the issue, we must own that he has answered us, and we are bound to be thankful.
III. What influence he hoped that his praising God would have upon others, Ps 138:4,5. David was himself a king, and therefore he hoped that kings would be wrought upon by his experiences, and his example, to embrace religion; and, if kings became religious, their kingdoms would be every way better. Now, 1. This may have reference to the kings that were neighbours to David, as Hiram and others. "They shall all praise thee." When they visited David, and, after his death, when they sought the presence of Solomon (as all the kings of the earth are expressly said to have done, 2Ch 9:23), they readily joined in the worship of the God of Israel. 2. It may look further, to the calling of the Gentiles and the discipling of all nations by the gospel of Christ, of whom it is said that all kings shall fall down before him, Ps 72:11. Now it is here foretold, (1.) That the kings of the earth shall hear the words of God. All that came near David should hear them from him, Ps 119:46. In the latter days the preachers of the gospel should be sent into all the world. (2.) That then they shall praise God, as all those have reason to do that hear his word, and receive it in the light and love of it, Ac 13:48. (3.) That they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, in the ways of his providence and grace towards them; they shall rejoice in God, and give glory to him, however he is pleased to deal with them in the ways of their duty and obedience to him. Note, Those that walk in the ways of the Lord have reason to sing in those ways, to go on in them with a great deal of cheerfulness, for they are ways of pleasantness, and it becomes us to be pleasant in them; and, if we are so, great is the glory of the Lord. It is very much for the honour of God that kings should walk in his ways, and that all those who walk in them should sing in them, and so proclaim to all the world that he is a good Master and his work its own wages.
6-8
God's Care of His People
简体中文
神对他百姓的看顾
⁶ 耶和华虽高，仍看顾低微的人；他却从远处就认识骄傲的人。
⁷ 我虽行在患难中，你必使我存活；我的仇敌发怒，你必伸手抵挡他们；你的右手也必救我。
⁸ 耶和华必成全关乎我的事；耶和华啊，你的慈爱永远长存；求你不要离弃你手所造的。
大卫在此以三件事自慰：
一、神向谦卑之民所怀的恩惠（诗一三八6）：「耶和华虽高」，既不缺任何一个受造，也不能因他们得益，「仍看顾低微的人」，以他们为所喜悦的而向他们微笑，越过天地，向他们投以恩惠的一瞥（赛五十七15，六十六1）；迟早他必加尊荣给他们，而「他从远处就认识骄傲的人」——认识他们，却不认他们，弃绝他们，任他们如何骄傲地自以为是蒙他恩的。哈蒙德博士认为，这便是地上的君王所听见并欢迎的那福音的总意——悔改的罪人必蒙神悦纳，不悔改的必被弃绝；请看法利赛人和税吏的例子（路十八9-14）。
二、神对受苦受压之百姓的看顾（诗一三八7）。大卫虽是大善之人，仍预料「行在患难中」，却以盼望自勉：1. 神必安慰他：「当我的灵快要下沉衰败之时，你必使我存活，使我在患难中安然愉快。」属神的安慰足以使我们苏醒，即便我们行在患难之中、因恐惧几乎要死。2. 神必保护他，为他申冤：「你必伸手」——虽不是伸出手毁灭我的仇敌，却是「抵挡我仇敌的怒气」，加以约束设限。3. 神必按其时为他行拯救：「你的右手也必救我。」他既有一手伸出抵挡仇敌，又有一手拯救自己的百姓。基督便是主的右手，要拯救一切事奉他的人。
三、我们所得的确据：神在他百姓身上、为他们所动的善工，他必成全（诗一三八8）：「耶和华必成全关乎我的事」。1. 那些于我最必要的事；他最清楚何为必要。我们「为许多与我们无干的事思虑烦扰」，他却知道哪些是真正关乎我们的大事（太六32），并要安排至美。2. 那些我们最关切的事。每一个善人最关切的，是他对神当尽的本分、以及他在神里面的福乐——前者要忠心尽到，后者要稳妥得着；若这些果是我们心所系、所最挂虑的事，那就是我们里面已经动了善工，而那动了这工的必成全这工，我们可以确信他必如此行（腓一6）。请留意：（1）诗人建立这信心的根基：「耶和华啊，你的慈爱永远长存。」他原已多以此为赞美的内容（诗十三6），所以在此更能放胆以此为盼望的内容。因为，我们若把神慈爱的荣耀归给他，便可享其安慰。我们关于恒忍的盼望，必须建立在神的慈爱上——不是建立在自己的力量上，因那必使我们失望；而是建立在神的慈爱上，因那永不落空。这话求得好：「主啊，你的慈爱永远长存；愿我永远作它的记念。」（2）他对这信心的用处；信心不取消祷告，反而加速祷告；他把期待化为恳求：「求你不要离弃——不要放手——你手所作的工。主啊，我是你手所作的工，我的灵魂也是如此，求你不要离弃我；我所关切的事也是如此，求你不要放下你的看顾。」我们里面所有的善，都是神亲手所作的工；「他在我们心里运行，使我们立志行事」；他若放手，必归失败；但他作为耶和华——成全之神——的荣耀，如此关切这工的进展直到末了，以致我们可以凭信求告：「主啊，求你不要离弃它。」他所爱的，他必爱到底；至于神，他的作为是完全的。
英文原文
God's Care of His People
⁶ Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.
⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
⁸ The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
David here comforts himself with three things:—
I. The favour God bears to his humble people (Ps 138:6): Though the Lord be high, and neither needs any of his creatures nor can be benefited by them, yet has he respect unto the lowly, smiles upon them as well pleased with them, overlooks heaven and earth to cast a gracious look upon them (Isa 57:15,66:1), and, sooner or later, he will put honour upon them, while he knows the proud afar off, knows them, but disowns them and rejects them, how proudly soever they pretend to his favour. Dr. Hammond makes this to be the sum of that gospel which the kings of the earth shall hear and welcome—that penitent sinners shall be accepted of God, but the impenitent cast out; witness the instance of the Pharisee and the publican, Lu 18:9-14
II. The care God takes of his afflicted oppressed people, Ps 138:7. David, though a great and good man, expects to walk in the midst of trouble, but encourages himself with hope, 1. That God would comfort him: "When my spirit is ready to sink and fail, thou shalt revive me, and make me easy and cheerful under my troubles." Divine consolations have enough in them to revive us even when we walk in the midst of troubles and are ready to die away for fear. 2. That he would protect him, and plead his cause: "Thou shalt stretch forth thy hand, though not against my enemies to destroy them, yet against the wrath of my enemies, to restrain that and set bounds to it." 3. That he would in due time work deliverance for him: Thy right hand shall save me. As he has one hand to stretch out against his enemies, so he has another to save his own people. Christ is the right hand of the Lord, that shall save all those who serve him.
III. The assurance we have that whatever good work God has begun in and for his people he will perform it (Ps 138:8): The Lord will perfect that which concerns me, 1. That which is most needful for me; and he knows best what is so. We are careful and cumbered about many things that do not concern us, but he knows what are the things that really are of consequence to us (Mt 6:32) and he will order them for the best. 2. That which we are most concerned about. Every good man is most concerned about his duty to God and his happiness in God, that the former may be faithfully done and the latter effectually secured; and if indeed these are the things that our hearts are most upon, and concerning which we are most solicitous, there is a good work begun in us, and he that has begun it will perfect it, we may be confident he will, Php 1:6. Observe, (1.) What ground the psalmist builds this confidence upon: Thy mercy, O Lord! endures for ever. This he had made very much the matter of his praise (Ps 13:6), and therefore he could here with the more assurance make it the matter of his hope. For, if we give God the glory of his mercy, we may take to ourselves the comfort of it. Our hopes that we shall persevere must be founded, not upon our own strength, for that will fail us, but upon the mercy of God, for that will not fail. It is well pleaded, "Lord, thy mercy endures for ever; let me be for ever a monument of it." (2.) What use he makes of this confidence; it does not supersede, but quicken prayer; he turns his expectation into a petition: "Forsake not, do not let go, the work of thy own hands. Lord, I am the work of thy own hands, my soul is so, do not forsake me; my concerns are so, do not lay by thy care of them." Whatever good there is in us it is the work of God's own hands; he works in us both to will and to do; it will fail if he forsake it; but his glory, as Jehovah, a perfecting God, is so much concerned in the progress of it to the end that we may in faith pray, "Lord, do not forsake it." Whom he loves he loves to the end; and, as for God, his work is perfect.
大卫是因何故作本篇,无可考,也无关紧要;在其中:一、他以感恩之心回顾他对神待他之良善的经历(诗138:1-3);二、他以安慰前瞻,盼望:1. 他人也必如他一般继续赞美神(诗138:4,5);2. 神也必继续向他行善(诗138:6-8)。我们唱这首诗时,也当照样将自己献于神的赞美与荣耀,并安息于他的大能与良善之中。